Ooooohhhh the GRE is OVER and I am soooo happy!

[Goobernut]

My GRE is over, and dear gawd I did decently. I made the decision a couple of months ago to NOT apply for PhD programs, that I wanted to go the master's route. However, I almost made a high enough score to make it into the PhD programs I was looking at if I change my mind again (30 points old scale short) . So, I'm done. Done done done done done done done so freaking happy done, and I had to just come spew happiness over the internet.

And spew my happiness at people who would understand what I'm talking about old scale vs. new scale blah blah.

Thank you guys again for being here and even if I don't post a whole lot (and am not coherent because I'm on my ?? beer) I appreciate your input and all the stuffs and things you have to share about your experiences. You have officially informed me

SoooOooooOO happy and relieved to be done with that part.

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[JustNoticing]

Congrats! Post-GRE was a pretty great feeling for me as well.

 

[mewtoo]

Congrats! I just took my last week and surprisingly did awesome (went from a 1040 to a 1210-1220)!

The post-GRE feel is a good one when it goes well, haha. Totally feel you on the spewing happiness part. I had a meeting after mine so I went around telling and annoying everyone. Some of my friends and I are (hopefully) going out tomorrow to either celebrate our GRE scores or drown our sorrows over it and celebrate my 21st birthday. Hope you had fun celebrating too. It sounds like you did from your post.

 

[Goobernut]

Thanks Freudian and Metwo

Metwo, I saw that you had success in improving your score in the WAMC thread. Nice work! I bet you felt warm and fuzzy. Happy Birthday too! I hope your celebrations went well!! I didn't go too terribly crazy with my celebrating. I had just bought a twelve pack of a Halloween beer "blood ale." It was good and I'm a cheap drunk ha! I think at most I prolly had 3.5.

My undergrad thesis proposal is next week, so I didn't have much time to celebrate.

Btw, have you found anyone having probs calculating old scale scores? My friend and I had a conversion chart that one of my profs gave to us. So as soon as we got out we converted. It was weird, I had a higher new scale score, but according to this form, her old scale was higher. I was kinda meh about my score until I came home and converted my score using the scales on the ETS website. My old scale score translated to be a bit higher than I previously thought, so bonus!

I guess my question is, are there several different places putting out conversion charts? Or does ETS update occasionally, or is it more likely we just had a typo or juxtaposition on our chart? I noticed it was with the math portion specifically.

 

[mewtoo]

Thanks Freudian and Metwo

Metwo, I saw that you had success in improving your score in the WAMC thread. Nice work! I bet you felt warm and fuzzy. Happy Birthday too! I hope your celebrations went well!! I didn't go too terribly crazy with my celebrating. I had just bought a twelve pack of a Halloween beer "blood ale." It was good and I'm a cheap drunk ha! I think at most I prolly had 3.5.

My undergrad thesis proposal is next week, so I didn't have much time to celebrate.

Btw, have you found anyone having probs calculating old scale scores? My friend and I had a conversion chart that one of my profs gave to us. So as soon as we got out we converted. It was weird, I had a higher new scale score, but according to this form, her old scale was higher. I was kinda meh about my score until I came home and converted my score using the scales on the ETS website. My old scale score translated to be a bit higher than I previously thought, so bonus!

I guess my question is, are there several different places putting out conversion charts? Or does ETS update occasionally, or is it more likely we just had a typo or juxtaposition on our chart? I noticed it was with the math portion specifically.

Thanks! And yes I felt awesome, haha. Blood ale, eh? That sounds cool. I'm hoping they'll have nifty Halloween drinks at the bar tomorrow.

Good luck on your thesis! That'll look awesome on you CV, for sure.

I've been just using the ETS concordance scales for figuring out mine. I don't think ETS updated, because they aren't supposed to adjust the percentiles till next June or July or something like that. Was it an ETS scale that your professor gave you? Maybe the one they gave you was from company like Kaplan or Princeton Review. My Princeton Review one didn't match up with the ETS tables. I think its a safe bet to go with the ETS version, especially if it made your score higher. I noticed one school's admissions (Oklahoma State) info was weird, though. They said a 162 V correlated to like a 420 on the old scale. I don't know what in the world they were using for that. The quant conversion they listed was way low too. Perhaps they used some other weird conversion scale as well?

All I know is I'm going to clutch onto the 1200+ the ETS scale gave me for dear life.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Thanks Freudian and Metwo

Metwo, I saw that you had success in improving your score in the WAMC thread. Nice work! I bet you felt warm and fuzzy. Happy Birthday too! I hope your celebrations went well!! I didn't go too terribly crazy with my celebrating. I had just bought a twelve pack of a Halloween beer "blood ale." It was good and I'm a cheap drunk ha! I think at most I prolly had 3.5.

My undergrad thesis proposal is next week, so I didn't have much time to celebrate.

Btw, have you found anyone having probs calculating old scale scores? My friend and I had a conversion chart that one of my profs gave to us. So as soon as we got out we converted. It was weird, I had a higher new scale score, but according to this form, her old scale was higher. I was kinda meh about my score until I came home and converted my score using the scales on the ETS website. My old scale score translated to be a bit higher than I previously thought, so bonus!

I guess my question is, are there several different places putting out conversion charts? Or does ETS update occasionally, or is it more likely we just had a typo or juxtaposition on our chart? I noticed it was with the math portion specifically.

One of the reasons for the new scales and such was that many test takers topped out on the old quant section, leading to a ceiling effect and a number of people with perfect scores that were only, I think, in the ~80-90th percentile (e.g., an 800 quant during my testing year was in the 92nd percentile). Conversely, hardly anyone ever topped out the verbal section, leading to what I would believe was a much more normal distribution (e.g., if I'm remembering correctly, I scored a 720 many years ago, which for that version of the test came in at the 98th percentile).

Because the underlying distributions are likely different, comparing percentiles is going to be the best way to directly compare new scores to old ones. It's also why some of the conversions seem a bit wonky (particularly for quant).

 

[Goobernut]

Hahah Metwo! Did you score a 162 on verbal? I was 161 It was my math score that was hideous hahaha. I knew that it would work out that way. I do well on verbal standardized tests, and really poorly on the math sections. I'm not hideous at math, it just takes me a very long time (in comparison to most) to work out problems, therefore I run out of time.

For now I'm also pretending the analytical section doesn't exist. I was so ridiculously nervous that I know I didn't do well. I warmed up by the second essay part, so that was probably okay, but the two together will probably yield a score that is less than desirable.

For now, until I get my percentiles, I'll stick with you Metwo. The ETS scales make me way happier than some of the other 5 scales I've seen floating around Also, to be very honest, its just extremely frustrating to have a decent first time, taking-it-cold composite score on the new scale (307) to be told that it can mean anything from a 1090 to a 1180. That's really a big difference. Another frustrating thing was to keep hearing that the new system is weighted differently so that each point is more significant, but then to have people who scored 5-6 points lower than me on their composite end up having a higher old scale score. It just sorta felt like my semi-tiny accomplishment had been stolen from me LOL!!! However, this is probably what everyone who took it last fall felt x1000. People probably had no idea if they were coming or going.

One of the reasons for the new scales and such was that many test takers topped out on the old quant section, leading to a ceiling effect and a number of people with perfect scores that were only, I think, in the ~80-90th percentile (e.g., an 800 quant during my testing year was in the 92nd percentile). Conversely, hardly anyone ever topped out the verbal section, leading to what I would believe was a much more normal distribution (e.g., if I'm remembering correctly, I scored a 720 many years ago, which for that version of the test came in at the 98th percentile).

Because the underlying distributions are likely different, comparing percentiles is going to be the best way to directly compare new scores to old ones. It's also why some of the conversions seem a bit wonky (particularly for quant).

I knew this about the old test, which is why when my friend calculated my score with the new scale (I was driving us home) I wasn't surprised that my old scale score was lower than hers. Even though my composite new score was higher than hers, I figured it was because I had done particularly poorly in math. I knew they had "raised the bar" so to speak with the quant section, so I wasn't surprised that my low-ish math score generated a low old scale quant score. I was counting on my verbal score to make my overall composite look good Hah. So I guess to really nail this down I'll have to wait until ETS mails me my percentiles eh?

Between the conversion charts that Im looking at, the percentiles are the same but the old scale scores are different. So, I have to guess that means that authors have been creating the conversion tables using different years? The ETS one is assembled using percentile data from the last year, August 1, 2011 and April 30, 2012.

I've noticed that between Jan. of this year and now, quite a few programs that had strict bottom end cut offs for their programs. Now they only list the median score for their accepted candidates. Mind you the programs I was looking at weren't highly competitive, but still I think there is a lot of frustration/issues with the interpretation of the new scores.

 

[mewtoo]

Hahah Metwo! Did you score a 162 on verbal? I was 161 It was my math score that was hideous hahaha. I knew that it would work out that way. I do well on verbal standardized tests, and really poorly on the math sections. I'm not hideous at math, it just takes me a very long time (in comparison to most) to work out problems, therefore I run out of time.

For now I'm also pretending the analytical section doesn't exist. I was so ridiculously nervous that I know I didn't do well. I warmed up by the second essay part, so that was probably okay, but the two together will probably yield a score that is less than desirable.

For now, until I get my percentiles, I'll stick with you Metwo. The ETS scales make me way happier than some of the other 5 scales I've seen floating around Also, to be very honest, its just extremely frustrating to have a decent first time, taking-it-cold composite score on the new scale (307) to be told that it can mean anything from a 1090 to a 1180. That's really a big difference. Another frustrating thing was to keep hearing that the new system is weighted differently so that each point is more significant, but then to have people who scored 5-6 points lower than me on their composite end up having a higher old scale score. It just sorta felt like my semi-tiny accomplishment had been stolen from me LOL!!! However, this is probably what everyone who took it last fall felt x1000. People probably had no idea if they were coming or going.



I knew this about the old test, which is why when my friend calculated my score with the new scale (I was driving us home) I wasn't surprised that my old scale score was lower than hers. Even though my composite new score was higher than hers, I figured it was because I had done particularly poorly in math. I knew they had "raised the bar" so to speak with the quant section, so I wasn't surprised that my low-ish math score generated a low old scale quant score. I was counting on my verbal score to make my overall composite look good Hah. So I guess to really nail this down I'll have to wait until ETS mails me my percentiles eh?

Between the conversion charts that Im looking at, the percentiles are the same but the old scale scores are different. So, I have to guess that means that authors have been creating the conversion tables using different years? The ETS one is assembled using percentile data from the last year, August 1, 2011 and April 30, 2012.

I've noticed that between Jan. of this year and now, quite a few programs that had strict bottom end cut offs for their programs. Now they only list the median score for their accepted candidates. Mind you the programs I was looking at weren't highly competitive, but still I think there is a lot of frustration/issues with the interpretation of the new scores.

I got a 161 Verbal and a 148 Quant. I'm the same way as you with the math and verbal, though I had been getting a 157 verbal on practice tests so it was a VERY pleasant surprise to get a 161. I still don't know if it was a fluke or what. It doesn't take me much longer on math, but its just my poorer subject, period. If I hardcore studied it I could probably do well, but otherwise its lacking. Seems like we did comparably, though! High fives!

I have NO clue how I did on the writing. On the old one I got a 3. A THREE. I don't know wtf was going on there. One of my psych professors literally told me I had a natural ability for writing and the professor I had for creative writing was trying to convince me to go into creative writing because I "was wasting my talent on psychology." Literally, no exaggerating. Then I got a three. I'm just hoping I didn't do worse because I optioned to only send my new scores. I'm really anxious to find out that and my official percentiles. I'm also really anxious if they'll get to all my schools in time!

I'm kind of hoping the frustration/ confusion will help my app, actually. Perhaps it won't get thrown straight out that way. None of the ones I'm applying to had a official cut off before as far as I know, but I noticed them starting to stick on median scores too. I think my programs are a mix of competitive (like Florida state) and less-competitive (like Oklahoma state). You know whats a weird feeling, though? Realizing that you meet the mean or are above it (in the case of only one school, but still) when you've spent the past 1.5 years thinking you were in the sh*tter with a 1040.

Wow... am I the most literate drunk or what? I literally just got back from the bar from my 21st. We'll see if I end up at my 11 am history and systems class, though, haha...... I just realized how sad it is that I just got back from partying and one of the first things I did was check SDN.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Between the conversion charts that Im looking at, the percentiles are the same but the old scale scores are different. So, I have to guess that means that authors have been creating the conversion tables using different years? The ETS one is assembled using percentile data from the last year, August 1, 2011 and April 30, 2012.

That'd be my guess, yep. In the end, I'd likely weight the ETS chart more than any others, as it's likely the one most programs will use (unless said program has a chart of their own posted, in which case they'd likely just use that one instead).

 

[Goobernut]

Metwo! High Five! You are the most literate drunk. You are more coherent than I am sober ha. Yeah, the increase in score for you is a definite win.

That'd be my guess, yep. In the end, I'd likely weight the ETS chart more than any others, as it's likely the one most programs will use (unless said program has a chart of their own posted, in which case they'd likely just use that one instead).

Good point! And each university seems to have their own line of reasoning. Which, I guess is really nothing different than normal ha